


Out of Time

by darlingdearheart



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 03:19:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4861040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingdearheart/pseuds/darlingdearheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I was thinking... Paris."  -  Eleven/Romana II fluffish nonsense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Time

**Author's Note:**

> A repost from my FF.net account with minor updates to the text.
> 
> Originally, I wrote this shortly after Matt Smith's first season as the Doctor (series five). It takes place immediately before 'Vincent and the Doctor' for Eleven, and as an AU beginning/middle of 'Full Circle' for Romana.
> 
> This story was absolutely a labour of love when it was written. I hope you enjoy. :)

It was... confusing. That was to say the very least. Romana looked around, lines creasing her brow as she attempted to determine what had just occurred. Not moments ago she had been chatting away to the Doctor about where they were heading for next, and then she had blinked; blinked into existence, it seemed, these strange surroundings.

It looked like the TARDIS, or at least  _a_  TARDIS, she couldn't deny that, though the desktop theme had somehow been changed (she had never known how to do that, herself). But there was the console; green and orange and silver, now, but still there. Romana reached out a hand to touch it, when a voice rang out that made her jump back.

"Just what do you think you're doing?! You come in here, unannounced and uninvited, and think that it's alright to start playing with things?" the Doctor flicked a few switches and turned a few dials for emphasis, not once chancing a look at Romana, who stood staring at this new man with her mouth slightly agape.

"I'm sorry sir, I-"

"Did anyone ever tell you that it's rude to just barge into an unfamiliar Police Box-?" He stopped abruptly, mid-stride, as his eyes came to rest on the intruder. A face he had thought he would never in all his lives see again. "Romana."

To say that she was startled would be an understatement. Romana was positively dumbfounded. How did this floppy young man know her name, and why did he have a TARDIS that he called a Police Box? Unless... "Doctor? Is that...? No, it can't be you."

"Hi," he responded, unsure what else he could possibly say. He hadn't seen her since his fourth incarnation, which was more than (at least) ten years ago.

"But I... I was just speaking to you; not  _you_  you, the... _other_ you."

Suddenly the Doctor's gaze became understanding. "Ah. This was the day you went missing; a time blip, or jump. Who knows what's caused it. There have been a lot of cracks opening up in the universe lately, so it wouldn't surprise me if they had something to do with this," he gestured to Romana.

"Cracks in the universe? Like the crack in time in-"

"Paris?" they said together.

"Very almost like in Paris," the Doctor said with a smile. He looked down at his feet for a time, trying to decide whether or not he could do what he most desired, when Romana suddenly spoke.

"So what incarnation is this, then?"

"Eleventh," he replied softly, a little disappointed that she'd spoken when she had; he had just about worked up enough courage to... Well at any rate, he really didn't mind hearing the sound of her voice again; that calm, even tone even when faced with something new and (presumably) terrifying.

"Eleventh," Romana repeated. "Not many more to go now; you'd better watch it. It's been a while... For us, I mean. Or am I still with you?"

He thought her voice may have possessed a hint of hope, and he felt bad to have to tell her the truth. But this was Romana, and to her he could never lie, not even for the sake of comfort. "No," he shook his head, and a wave of sadness washed over him.

"I had thought not." Romana smiled, finding herself capable of reading him even though he was in a different body; even though he was a slightly different person. He was still the Doctor. So she saw the sadness there, shining in his eyes for the briefest time, and took a step toward him. "You wish that I had stayed. I don't know why I would ever give this up," she said, looking around the TARDIS, "but it wouldn't be without a fight."

_Same old Romana..._  The Doctor forced a small laugh.

"I could stay here with you," she suggested, trying not to sound too hopeful. The idea of traveling with a future Doctor after she had apparently been absent for so long appealed greatly to her.

Oh how he wished she would. The Doctor and Romana, off traveling space and time together again... What a pair, what a  _team_  they had made. But he knew. In both of his hearts, he knew that it wasn't allowed; there was nobody there to stop him, but by his own rules, he could never permit it. So again he shook his head and had to tell her, "No... I would love you to stay, Romana, but I need you back in the past. You were -you  _are_ \- so brilliant; what would past me do without you?"

She smiled in understanding, just like the Doctor knew she would. "I daresay you would have a terrible, hard time without me there."

He laughed, (a better laugh this time), and turned to the console, cursing this new body and mind that wouldn't allow him to be as spontaneous and carefree as he had been and would like to be.

"So how do I get back?" Romana asked, though she didn't care what his answer was. She knew the Doctor. She knew that he would find a way to send her back, no matter what. And she almost resented that part of him, the one that always strove to keep things in order, to make time pass in as normal a fashion as possible. Sometimes things were meant to happen; things that weren't planned or thought through... But the Doctor always had to right them. Always. And she regretted that.

"Shouldn't be a problem. Pull a few levers, flip some switches... I'll have you back in no time! Well, not  _no_  time. I'll send you back to your proper time; won't just leave you hanging in a void somewhere," he said with a slightly nervous laugh.

Romana couldn't help but smile at him. Despite her frustration that he had to have everything exact and as it should be, she had to admit that she liked this new him, and also that she was very minimally jealous (if that was even the right word) of his current companion. There was no shred of doubt in her mind that he had a companion or two; he could never travel alone for very long.

"But first..." He trailed off, scratching his cheek, a nervous habit he'd picked up somewhere along the lines of his many incarnations. The Doctor took a couple small steps towards Romana, moving deliberately slowly to give himself time to think and re-think his decision. Not that there would be any reason to go back on it afterward, and if he did, Romana didn't have to know; she'd be back in her own time, and he would never have to worry about her again. That thought made him a little bit uneasy.

There they stood, face to face, mere inches from one another, as he and Romana had done so often before, and yet there was nothing remotely familiar about it. The Doctor took a deep breath, then leaned in and kissed her. After a moment, and perhaps too hastily, he pulled back to guage her reaction. When he saw her staring at him like a deer in headlights, he silently cursed himself and could feel the heat rushing to his face. He hoped that this incarnation didn't turn beet red, to boot.

"I'm sorry," he began hurriedly, trying to come up with a million and one different reasons why he would have done such a thing, besides the obvious, but the Doctor found himself at a loss for words. Great. The one time when he really needed to babble and he couldn't. "I shouldn't have... That wasn't..."

Romana blinked and the fog that had momentarily clouded her vision lifted. She saw that he was getting flustered, and guessed that she had been in a state of shock for a little longer than acceptable. Quickly, before he could walk away, she placed one of her hands on either side of his face and shook her head. "No...  _no..._ " And to the Doctor's surprise and delight, she stood on her toes and pulled his face towards her until their lips met yet again, only this time they remained that way for what felt like an eternity. Even when they at last broke apart it seemed that it had not lasted long enough.

The Doctor smiled broadly at the Time Lady for a time, until finally he resolved to look at his feet, trying to contain the mixed emotions that he was feeling. It would be so easy to keep her there, to let her travel with him for the rest of time...

"Doctor?" Romana whispered a few minutes later.

He looked up and quirked the corner of his mouth for her, but only just, for it was all he could manage.

"I suppose I can tell you now, because you won't know  _then_... I've been wishing you would do that for a very long time," she laughed, smiling that nearly trademark grin of hers.

What else could he do but laugh? Inside, his second thoughts on sending her back began to give him a headache; he didn't know how much of this he could take. The Doctor knew that he should have sent her back the very second he'd laid eyes on her, but no, he'd decided that a few minutes couldn't hurt. But they did, more than he could have guessed. He thought it might tear his hearts to shreds if he had to send her back now.

"Doctor? Is everything alright?"

He blinked out of his trance-like state and smiled at her. "Oh, yes... quite alright. I... I want you to know that I appreciated you so much. _So_  much, and I don't know that I ever told you while I had the chance."

"I think you did - _do_ \- in your own way."

"I hope it came off like that. Thank you, Romana. Space and time travel with you... it was fantastic."

"I'm glad you took me on as your assistant," she said in her most serious voice.

"’Assistant’... You were never my assistant. I might've called you that sometimes... actually maybe always... But you were, truly, my partner... my _equal_."

Romana grinned again, vindicated in hearing this after so many years, and the Doctor laughed at her quick change of demeanour.

"So..."

"So."

"I suppose I should... Well I guess it's time you went back," he affirmed, trying to keep the regret and sadness out of his voice. But then he'd grown used to that over the years.  _Everybody leaves. No matter what, they always leave._  He knew that well.

"Yes..." She looked down at the glass floor, only just realizing it, and along with it, that there were so many new things that she wanted to discover, both about the TARDIS, and the Doctor. "May I ask you a question?"

"You just did, Romana."

She laughed and briefly stuck her tongue out at him. "I mean another question."

"Anything."

"When we receive that summons from Gallifrey, and they want me back... Doctor please tell me I don't go."

The Doctor stared at the controls of the TARDIS at length, wishing she'd asked something else of him. "Romana you know I can't tell you."

Despite the wave of sadness that washed over her, Romana smiled and nodded. “I didn’t think you could, but I thought I’d at least give it a try.”

“I would have been worried if you hadn’t,” the Doctor smiled, then turned to the console. “Now, I’ve never done this before… Didn’t think I’d have to. But, if I just flick this little switch here–“

He flicked it prematurely, and by accident, of course, as is the way with stories such as this. The next second he looked up, Romana was gone, and the room felt cold, empty. The TARDIS even seemed a bit quiet, not humming as she usually did. For a while the Doctor could only stand and stare at the spot where his Time Lady had last been standing, but soon turned back to the console and adjusted a dial here, pressed a button there, pulled a lever… Constant distractions were what he’d need for the next few days.

Happily, a red-haired one bounded in seconds later. Amy Pond smiled broadly at the Doctor over the console. “I heard you talking to yourself… though that doesn’t really surprise me.”

The Doctor gave a little laugh. “Sometimes I do that, Pond.” The truth was, however, that he really didn’t want to get into recounting what had just happened. Amy was one of the best friends he had ever had, and he would tell her about Romana someday, but for now…

“So where are we off to next?”

“I was thinking… Paris.”


End file.
